QSR: 6 Tips for Entering a New Market

From the rise in food trucks to an increase in small concepts that serve cuisine mashups for a unique menu, more and more small restaurants are growing and will soon need to decide how they will expand their businesses in a sustainable, methodical fashion. How, where and when these concepts choose to enter new markets will be do or die.

“It’s a lot more multifaceted than it feels when you first go into the project,” Ben Friedman, co-founder and co-CEO of Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches, told QSR Magazine. His Seattle-based fast-casual brand opened in its second market, San Francisco, last month. “You have to cast a wide net on all the issues you should be thinking about, from policy and real estate to labor and food. A new market touches every aspect of your business, not just real estate or operations.”